‘Seems that I will be arriving at my new planet soon.’ Flilorn looked out her window at the passing planets whizzing by. The ship that she was on was very fast when flying through space.
It had been one year since she left her homeworld. The people of the Xiolan empire had spent a few months on her planet, sorting out the affairs, then they had left. She had heard that a different ship filled with colonizers and teachers were headed their right after she had left.
“It’s time for your exercise, let’s get going Flilorn.” A human came into her room and urged her out into the hall. This human’s name was Buffer, he was her personal trainer. He had managed her workout routine ever since she moved rooms. He said that he was training her to be a soldier, but she was doubtful. After all, she was useless as a soldier with her mana burn. She couldn’t use mana. So, she thought that perhaps Buffer was just building her strength so that she could do more physical labor. That seemed to be the most logical conclusion in her mind.
“Ok, I’m coming.” She stepped out into the hall. They walked until they reached the exercise room. She did her stretches, then began to follow Buffer’s instructions. Sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, squats, Buffer made her do a variety of other exercises. She finished it all off by swimming a few laps in the pool. ‘I don’t like water.’ She did not enjoy the feeling of being immersed in water, it made her feel awkward. But she did it anyway, after all, the water wasn’t going to hurt her.
In these months of working out, she had put on some muscle. Her body was slender but tough. Her grey horns had also grown a bit, they were now all about eight centimeters long and were all slightly curved in random directions. She counted that she had 11 horns in random places around her head. There were also some new, shorter horn nubs. Her tail had also grown, it was thirty centimeters long with a dark metallic shine. The tail was segmented in heavily armored joints, with a spiked spine going along the top of it. At the end of the tail was a mouth that could open like a snake with multiple fangs in its mouth. Her grey eyes had also slowly changed from the round pupils that she used to have, into a more vertical oval shape. She knew from seeing her parents that her pupils would one day turn into slits.
‘I have not seen a lot of eljinds on this ship. Or anyone from my world for that matter.’ Flilorn had been kept in isolation most of the time. She did not converse with anyone else that had been brought on this trip from her world. Even when working out, the workout room was empty except for her and her trainer. ‘I guess eljinds are kind or rare.’ She had come to this conclusion from her time on this ship. She had seen a few eljinds, but they were far outnumbered by the other races. In her world, eljinds had not been that rare at all.
“All right. That’s enough for today, let’s get you back to your room.” Buffer followed her back to her room. Flilorn entered the room, then heard a click as the door was locked behind her by Buffer. She did not give it much thought. She lay on her bed and looked out of the window. There, she saw a giant sun. When looking at the sun, she relaxed and closed her eyes. Flilorn felt like the fire from the sun was joyful.
She reached over to a table beside her bed to grab a clock and set an alarm to wake up the next day. When she touched the clock, she quickly brought back her hand. “Ow!” The clock was very hot, it burned her hand a bit. Flilorn shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. She grabbed the clock and bore with the pain as she set the alarm to go off early the next day. Then Flilorn laid down and stretched before falling asleep.
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“How is Flilorns strengthening coming along?” Kilongi stood before a kneeling Buffer, asking him about Flilorns progress. “She is doing well, even surpassing the schedule set for her. She has become stronger at a faster pace than anticipated. Those eljinds sure are something, so strong.” Buffer had nothing but praise for the young girl.
‘Hmm, it seems that he is becoming attached. Good thing we are nearing the drop-off point, they will separate before Buffer becomes any more attached to her.’ Kilongi smiled at the man, internally disappointed that he had become attached to the girl. “Well then, that’s good. She will be dropped off soon, meanwhile, you are being promoted. So we will have to conduct the ceremony in the capital world. Flilorn will be taken care of on planet A-9992.” Kilongi informed the man of his promotion, hoping to get him away from Flilorn. “Really? That’s great! I guess I’ll visit Flilorn after my promotion. What a wonderful girl, and so strong. She’s a little obsessed with fire, but whatever, she is still a good kid.” Buffer walked off after the happy news, leaving Kilongi alone in his office.
“Now that that’s taken care of.” Kilongi pulled out a communication device and radioed the drop-off point on world A-9992. “Hello, this is Kilongi of the Berelea family. Activation code 1L29D5. Requesting for status.” The device produced a static noise. Then the people on the receiving end responded, “Ship is ready for transport of subject MANA-F-490”. “Very well. Prepare for drop in thirteen hours,” Kilongi told them when to expect Flilorns arrival.
‘Almost done. Once she is on that ship, I can finally relax.’ Kilongi had been stressed, trying to protect Flilorn and hide her from public view. He had also hired a personal trainer to toughen up her body. After all, she would need strength. The experiments required a strong subject to be tested on to improve the chance of them surviving. ‘Let’s hope she can survive and provide us with the solution.’
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Flilorn awoke, feeling anticipation for her new home. She stretched as always, then waited. Soon, there came a knock on the door and Kilongi entered alongside three guards. “It is time for you to leave the ship and join your new planet. Let’s go.” Kilongi left and Flilorn followed behind him, surrounded by the three guards. “Where is Buffer?” She wanted to say goodbye to her trainer before she left. “He is otherwise occupied at the moment,” Kilongi responded. “Oh. Then may I ask what I am going to do on this planet?” Flilorn still wanted answers about what she was going to be doing. Kilongi deflected the question, “Some people will find you and inform you once we meet the others on the surface of the planet.” ‘so still no answers. This is kind of getting irritating.’ Flilorn was angry at the response but kept her mouth shut, she didn’t want to piss off a noble.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Flilorn walked out of the ship and took a deep breath of fresh air. Looking around her, she could see people hauling out carts of mana batteries that lost their glow and hauling in carts of bright, multicolored mana batteries. ‘It seems they are replacing the dead mana batteries with new ones.’
She walked behind Kilongi as he entered a hovering vehicle. The vehicle was steady as she boarded behind him. They started moving down a road, surrounded by buildings. She marveled at the sight of the towering metal buildings, taller than any tree she had ever seen. “So where are we going?” Flilorn was curious as to where they were headed. “We are already here.” Flilorn was confused at Kilongi’s response. Then, the driver slowed the vehicle and the guards grabbed her. The floor of the vehicle opened up to reveal a hole in the road. “Into the sewers with you,” the guards pushed her down and through the hole. ‘What the fuck is going on?!’ She fell for a while, then felt a pair of strong arms covered in armor catch her at the bottom. She turned her face to look at whoever caught her. Before she could see their face, there was a sharp prick on her neck. Then, she fell into darkness.
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“Here she is doctor. Now quickly check if she has mana burn.” A minotaur in black body armor, accompanied by twenty other people in the same armor, stood in the underground sewers of the city and spoke to a seemingly normal wall. The wall quickly opened up to reveal a white and pristine lab. In the back of the lab was a large tube with a large cartridge inside of it, enough to fit multiple people. “Very well, quickly bring subject MANA-F-490, to the table.” The minotaur placed the little girl in his arms onto the table. The doctor brought forth a mana battery attached to a needle-like device. The doctor pressed this device against the girl’s arm then pulled the trigger. The mana battery turned dark as the mana entered the girl’s body, but then it immediately got expelled as multicolored energy out of the puncture wound.
“It is confirmed. Her body rejected the mana, she has mana burn. Let’s quickly enter the transport.” All of the guards and the doctor entered the Cartridge in the tube located at the back of the room. When they were all in, the cartridge shot off at high speeds inside of the tube, quickly moving them from one location to another.
They soon arrived in the middle of a forest, with a highspeed ship waiting for them. Another twenty black-armored guards were standing there, waiting. Once the stationary guards saw the doctor exiting with the subject, they quickly fired up the ship and climbed on board. Soon, all forty-one guards, the doctor, and the subject were gone, the ship quickly accelerating into space. After they left the site where they were, it exploded into flames to cover their tracks.
On the ship, Flilorn was put into a pill-like cartridge and restrained. The doctor set up a life liquid drip into Flilorns arm to stabilize her condition and keep her alive for the trip. The life liquid glowed with a white light inside of the bag and slowly flowed along the tube into her arm. Life liquid was a magical substance that healed people, it was harvested from a certain magical plant. This specific life liquid had been selectively bred to not affect the sleeping drug they had used on Flilorns body, so she would stay sleeping for the time being.
“What are those burn marks on her palms? They look fresh. Ah, they are fresh burns, look at that. The life liquid is healing those burns.” The doctor was confused at how Flilorn had these new wounds. She had some scars that the Life liquid was not healing because they were old, but the burn marks on her palms were healing, which signaled that they were fairly new wounds. He looked in Flilorn’s medical file but found no mention of the burns on her palms. “That fucking noble. Whatever, they are not a serious wound.” The doctor shrugged his shoulders.
“Would someone grab me a drink?” One of the guards in black, an elf, stood and got the doctor a drink. “Thanks.” The doctor opened the cap and took a sip, expecting something nice and cool. “AH! Fuck that’s hot.” The doctor reached into a cooling box next to him and took out some ice from within the stacks of medical serums. He popped an ice cube into his mouth then put a couple more into his drink.
“Why did you bring me hot fruit juice? I mean, that is very weird. But, whatever, you elves sure have strange tastes though.” The doctor grumbled. The elf guard just gave the doctor a strange look and whispered to the guard captain next to him. “What is this doctor talking about, why would I like hot fruit juice. Are his taste buds messed up or something?” The guard captain, the minotaur, just shrugged his shoulders “Best to not mention it, that doctors a loon.” The elf shook his head in understanding and went back to standing guard near the experimental subject.
The doctor continued to inspect Flilorn for any injuries. “Well looks like she’s good and healthy. I’ll go and check on how the other subjects are doing.” The doctor left the room. Meanwhile, Flilorn slept, strapped down inside the pill cartridge, an angry look on her face.
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Flilorn dreamt. In her dream the fire was raging, it seemed angry at everything. It affected her, she was also angry, but she did not know what she was angry at. The flames gave one last burst of power, then she opened her eyes. She looked up at a white light shining down on her, very similar to when she had first woken up in the hospital. The walls were white as well, with a white bed beneath her. Except that, on one side of the room, a man was standing accompanied by a woman with a clipboard, standing at his side. She stood up and walked towards them, “Where am I? Who are you?” She reached towards them but found her hand stopped by a thick glass wall. “Huh?” Flilorn was very confused.
“Hello there. My name is Dr. Tulo, I am the head researcher here at this facility. This person next to me is Dr. Jilt, a magical plant specialist.” Dr. Tulo was a gnome, a very short race with large eyes and a pointed head. Dr. Jilt was an elf. “We came here to inform you of the contribution you could make to society. Not just helping the Xiolan Empire, but every force in the galaxy. You would be a hero of the people. All we need to do is perform a few experiments on you, that’s all. So, what do you say, are you going to help us?” Dr. Tulo made a very grand speech.
“Experiments? No.” But Flilorn rejected him. ‘Are these people necromancers? Why do they want to experiment on me?’ Dr. Tulo looked crestfallen. “Well that is unfortunate, willing subjects are always better than unwilling. You see, we can’t not experiment on you. You have mana burn, and we are trying to fix that, so you see the dilemma here?” Slowly, Flilorn began to realize that she was a prisoner to be experimented on. “No! Let me out, now! I don’t want to!” She banged on the glass to no avail. Dr.Tulo just shook his head and walked away, Dr. Jilt stayed where she was and continued to scribble on her clipboard.
‘I’m going to die!’ Sweat poured off of her as she imagined dying. ‘No no no, I don’t want to. I want fire! It will protect me, wheres the fire!’ While having these thoughts she mumbled, “I want fire.” Dr. Jilt looked up from her clipboard, “What a coincidence. You’ll soon have your fire, hehe.” With those words, she turned around and left, leaving Flilorn alone. Soon the pitter-patter of tears hitting the ground could be heard.